Archive

  • Locations: News Published

    Dandelion Market keeps planning ahead

    The Dandelion Market in Carbondale (formerly known as the Carbondale Community Food Co-op) will be holding its annual members meeting Nov. 17 at 6 p.m., and on the agenda will be discussion of the possibility that the store needs to find a new home. The meeting is to be held at the Third Street Center (the old Carbondale Elementary School building at the south end of S. 3rd Street) and is scheduled to last until 7:30 p.m., according to store manager Katrina Byars, who said the public is welcome to attend. Byars said the store, which opened eight years ago after starting out as a natural foods buying club in 2007, might lose the lease on its current location in June of 2017. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    RE-1’s first community organizer ready to “listen”

    The Roaring Fork School District recently hired its first community organizer, Janeth Niebla, a 2004 graduate of Glenwood Springs High School. This one-year position is being paid for by a gift from the Manaus Fund, although Niebla is officially an employee of the school district. Superintendent Rob Stein told The Sopris Sun that Niebla will be “convening meetings in homes and other community spaces to help us learn more about the hopes and challenges faced by our families.” As Niebla explained in a recent interview with The Sopris Sun, one of the “pillars” of the district’s strategic plan is community partnerships. Her primary goal in her new position will be to get families more engaged in the schools and to help build school-community partnerships. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Town moving forward on safe streets issue

    As the Town of Carbondale grapples with angry citizen demands for increased street safety, an advisory committee to the Board of Trustees will hold a public meeting on Nov. 7 to gauge citizen feelings about which are the most heavily used pedestrian routes in town and how to make them safer at night. The meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Town Hall (511 Colorado Ave.), is being hosted by the Bicycle, Pedestrian and Trails (BPT) Committee, in partnership with Land + Shelter consultant Andi Korber. According to an outline and statement about the meeting, issued by Trustee Ben Bohmfalk (liaison to the BPT committee), the meeting’s main purpose is to present a draft map of potential important “safe routes home,” questions about which streets people typically use more than others, and what people are hoping to see the town do in the way of making the streets more user-friendly and safer. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    NEWS ANALYSIS: Questions go “unadjudicated” in GarCo investigation

    What we have here, it seems, is a failure to adjudicate (paraphrasing, without apology, a line from the classic film, “Cool Hand Luke”). Local observers recently have been treated to a kind of legalistic circus involving five-term incumbent Republican Garfield County Commissioner John Martin fighting to hold onto his job in the Nov. 8 election; Democratic challenger John Acha trying to unseat Martin by, in part, accusing him of mishandling county funds; and Ninth Judicial District Attorney Sherry Caloia caught in the middle when Acha approached her office to investigate embezzlement allegations against Martin. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Learning with Love sets Latino toddlers on path to learning

    Asked for an accomplishment from the Learning with Love program, Katie Langenhuizen pauses. “We have had a class in Glenwood that had been together most of last year. At the end of the year, they decided they wanted to see each other more socially. They started hosting gatherings at their houses and in parks, outside the class.” Continuing, Langenhuizen says, “This isn’t something small for these families. It took them a whole year to trust one another enough to risk making those invitations.” Many English-speaking, U.S-born locals will be left scratching their head as to why a potluck in the park could be so frightening. But those who have worked with local Latin-American immigrants can tell tales of Spanish-speaking women who feel so isolated by language that they seldom go out in public. Laid on top of that are fears about discrimination, immigration status and social rejection. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Commentary: From the front lines at Standing Rock, ND

    The young man eyed me carefully as I drove up to the security gate of the Spirit Camp earlier this month. He was in his early twenties, a bandanna around his forehead. A couple of others who were also manning the entrance glanced up as well. After all, my 2007 Yukon was sporting Colorado plates, and I look nothing like a Native American. I decided to speak first: “Hi, I am here to meet some friends from the Cheyenne River tribe,” I told him and I could see him perk up a little. “Cheyenne River,” he said, “that’s my tribe,” and he smiled proudly. “I’m here to meet (I told him the names of my friends) and I brought supplies,” I said. “What kind of supplies?” he asked. “Winter coats and warm clothes donated by my community. We support what you are doing here,” I told him as he nodded and pointed to several large tents off to my right. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Dancing-Light going global on VoiceAmerica

    Lisa Dancing-Light is going global with one of her songs, after author Dr. Kent Johnson chose it as one of two theme songs for his new VoiceAmerica.com show “The Convergence: Uniting the Tribes in the Interspiritual Age.” The song, several years in the making, is adapted from a poem by author Anne Hillman, and is titled “The Song of Love” (an anthem for humanity). It starts: You are loved, you are accepted You are held in a vast embrace You are perfect as you are A child of God, a gift of Grace. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Mayoral candidates lay out views, opinions, approaches

    Approximately 40 area residents showed up on Thursday evening at a mayoral candidates’ forum in Carbondale, listening to the three candidates — Katrina Byars, Ed Cortez and Dan Richardson — as they described what they would like to do as mayor and how they are different from each other. Prior to the start of the forum, both Cortez and Richardson were up and walking around, working the room, shaking hands and talking with attendees, while Byars sat quietly in her assigned chair at the front of the room, thinking and watching. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    CLEER, GCE continue drive to cut energy costs

    Carbondale (meaning residents, businesses, the town government, etc.) in 2014 spent nearly $18 million in 2014 on energy costs, about $11 million of which was associated with transportation, according to the groups that keep track of such things. But over the past decade, changes in how the town’s energy resources are generated and used (and, more particularly, not used) are believed to have cut local energy costs considerably, according to town officials and representatives of the Clean Energy Economy for the Region (CLEER), Garfield Clean Energy (GCE) and its related organizations. read more →
  • Locations: News Published

    Democrats ask DA to investigate Martin’s spending

    In the latest move by Democrat John Acha to topple 20-year Republican incumbent Garfield County Commissioner John Martin, the county Democrats have formally called for an investigation into Martin’s spending of taxpayer money over the course of the last several years. Democrats have accused Martin of embezzlement concerning his expenses over three years of attendance at conferences of the National Association of Counties (NACo), read more →